A new UK land speed record for an electric car has been set, as the wind-powered Nemesis smashed the old record set by Don Wales, the grandson of the famous racer Sir Malcolm Campbell.
Designed and built entirely in the UK, the Nemesis electric car set a new record of 151 mph on Elvington airfield in York this morning.
The brainchild of energy firm, Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince the model was built to smash the image that electric cars are slow and boring. The car used electricity supplied from Ecotricity’s own wind turbine generation-making the new record a truly zero emission achievement.
It was driven by Gloucester-based racing driver Nick Ponting, aged 21, first received his racing licence at the tender-age of 14.
The previous record, set by Don Wales, stood at 137mph. Don attempted to break his own record back in July this year with his famous Bluebird Electric car, but had to abort the attempt after the car was damaged when it hit a pothole on a beach in Wales.
Faye has been writing about cars and environmental issues since 2007. A suspected eco-warrior working on the corporate inside, Faye mainly likes the weird, quirky vehicles that show a distinct environmental advantage. Her ideal car has enough room to fit a bale of hay in the boot. When not working, she likes nothing better than to head out on her bicycle and explore the countryside.
Timur Jalilov
I had this idea of a car since I was a kid. I wonder why it took this long for something this obvious to finally come up. It is so basic, car moves forward against air, so air flow created pushes wind turbines that produces energy to recharge batteries. In reality, the faster the car moves the more energy should be produced. This type of car should not need any recharging from the power grid and should be able to be driven for unlimited amount of miles since it would be always recharged.
October 01, 2012